636 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 932 



been made, reviews the facts of Mendelism, 

 using plant subjects as illustrations, and in- 

 troduces some of the more complicated cases. 

 In his second chapter, which considers " The 

 Application of Biological Principles to Plant 

 Breeding," East treats the subject in much 

 the way he did in his earlier valuable bulletin.' 

 Perhaps most interesting in the chapter is his 

 discussion and presentation of the evidence 

 for the stimulating effect of crossing. 



By far the longest chapter is the sixth (more 

 than a third of the whole book), by Professor 

 Tower, on " Recent Advances and the Present 

 State of Knowledge Concerning the Modifica- 

 tion of the Germinal Constitution of Organ- 

 isms by Experimental Processes." One feels 

 that for general, and professedly non-techni- 

 cal, purposes this chapter would have been 

 improved by the omission of much of the de- 

 tail of the author's own experiments and a 

 clear statement of the results. Certainly in 

 its present form it does not hold the interest 

 of the reader to an equal degree with the other 

 chapters, and it is difficult to see how a non- 

 biological audience can have followed the de- 

 tail in the lectures. Tower sums up the evi- 

 dence to prove that the " impinging of inci- 

 dent forces " upon the germ plasm may modify 

 the germinal constitution of organisms, but 

 combats " the hypothesis of the peripheral 

 origin and transmission of variations," other- 

 wise spoken of in common parlance as " the 

 inheritance of acquired characters." Tower 

 apparently does not, however, consider the fact 

 of possible direct modification of the germinal 

 constitution inimical to Mendelian interpre- 

 tation. 



Chapters VIII. and IX., by Dr. Davenport, 

 contain much of the interesting material 

 given in his recent book on eugenics.* The 

 former, entitled " The Inheritance of Physical 

 and Mental Traits of Man and their Applica- 

 tion to Eugenics," is largely a catalogue of 



" ' ' The Relation of Certain Biological Principles 

 to Plant Breeding." By Edward M. East, Ph.D. 

 Conn. Agr. Expt. Sta., Bull. 158, 1907. 



* ' ' Heredity in Relation to Eugenics. ' ' By 

 Charles Benedict Davenport. Henry Holt & Com- 

 pany, New York, 1911. 



the method of inheritance of various traits in 

 man, accompanied by family charts by way of 

 illustration. In the second of his chapters 

 are discussed, with concrete examples, the 

 effects of segregation and migration and their 

 eugenic significance, followed by the inevitable 

 " Edwardses " and " Jukes " as examples of 

 the descent of good and bad single lines of 

 germ plasm. 



There is little need to call attention to minor 

 inaccuracies in a book of this nature, which 

 really are few. The typography and proof- 

 reading are good. On pages 124 and 125 there 

 was noticed some confusion in referring to 

 figures 53 and 54. 



Leon J. Cole 



University op Wisconsin 



A HandhooTe of Sugar Analysis. A Practical 

 and Descriptive Treatise for Use in Re- 

 search, Technical and Control Laboratories. 

 By C. A. Browne, Ph.D., chemist in charge 

 of the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory. 

 Few York, John Wiley and Sons. 1912. 

 Cloth, $6.00 net. Sugar tables separate, 

 cloth, $1.25. 



Dr. Browne's volume is the latest and cer- 

 tainly one of the most noteworthy publica- 

 tions by which the literature of the sugar-in- 

 dustry has been enriched within the past de- 

 cade. 



The author presents not only a very full 

 selection of the most approved methods of 

 sugar analysis, but offers — as he is most emi- 

 nently qualified to do — account of the appli- 

 cability and limitations of the various meth- 

 ods discussed. 



On this account the work is of value not 

 only to the chemist who is entrusted with the 

 supervision and control of the laboratory of 

 a working plant, and who, above all things, 

 seeks to place his finger on the most accurate 

 and practical methods of analysis, but also to 

 the student and worker who desires to under- 

 stand thoroughly the principles and theory 

 underlying such methods. 



The volume is divided into two parts. The 

 first part is given over to a consideration of 

 physical and chemical methods of sugar analy- 



